Foundations of Scaling FoS.
IESE Foundations of Scaling
Grow your venture into an iconic and purpose-driven firm
If starting a company is hard, scaling it is even more demanding. Most ventures do not overcome the “entrepreneurial crisis” at the transition from startup to scaleup and end up stalling.
The Foundations of Scaling program will equip you with the insights and abilities to grow your venture into an iconic, purpose-driven firm. Explicitly designed for founders, this program gathers successful scaleup entrepreneurs, renowned thought leaders and world-class academics, forging an invigorating learning forum. Over 9 high-impact months, you will experience a stimulating blend of theory and practice and acquire mission-critical skills to successfully scale your business.
Benefits of Foundations of Scaling
1
Learn from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, who will equip you with innovative frameworks, perspectives and tools to take your business to new heights.
2
Share your trials and tribulations with fellow entrepreneurs and forge rich connections and a powerful support network for your learning journey and beyond.
3
Sharpen your decision-making skills and acquire tools to grow your business exponentially while preserving its vision and culture.
4
Enhance your ability to lead and self-awareness by identifying facets of your life trajectory, personality and leadership style that might be impeding your success.
Program Details
UPCOMING EDITION
Madrid, Munich, Barcelona and live online.
September 6, 2023 – May 25, 2024
The program supports founders in the transition from startup to scaleup. It is designed for Founders in C-level positions of mature startups who want to lead their companies to the next level.
Your firm should have found product-market-fit and identified a scalable business model. It should also have a track record of fast growth and more than 30 employees when you join the program in September 2023.
If, on top, your business addresses important societal or environmental challenges and you are an ambitious learner who espouses humility and a strong desire to grow as leader, then we would definitely want to have you in this program.
Dates: September 6, 2023 – May 25, 2024
Location: Madrid, Munich, Barcelona and live online.
Format: 9-month part-time program, with 6 residential sprints and 4 live online sprints. The program will be delivered in English.
Residential modules: 6 three days residential sprints delivered on IESE’s state-of-the-art campuses in Barcelona, Madrid and Munich.
Online modules: 4 half-day online sprints focused entirely on leadership and where your entire senior leadership team can join.
| Sprint #1 IESE Barcelona September 6-9, 2023 3 days |
Sprint #2 Live online September 27 half day |
Sprint #3 IESE Madrid October 18-21, 2023 3 days |
Sprint #4 Live online November 8 half day |
Sprint #5 IESE Munich November 27-29, 2023 2.5 days |
| Sprint #6 IESE Barcelona January 24-27, 2024 3 days |
Sprint #7 Live online February 14 half day |
Sprint #8 IESE Munich March 18-20, 2024 2.5 days |
Sprint #9 Live online April 17 half day |
Sprint #10 IESE Barcelona May 22-25, 2024 3.5 days |
The curriculum comprises five parallel tracks delivered throughout the program.
People
- Self-awareness and self-leadership
- The Journey from founder to leader
- Building the senior leadership team
- Building the people function
- Shaping culture
- Hiring top talent
- Internal communication and employee feedback
- Performance management
- Compensation and employee ownership
Strategy
- The scaling phenomenon
- Articulating and implementing purpose and vision
- Articulating and implementing strategy
- Designing the strategy process
- Orchestrating ecosystems and creating value for all stakeholders
- Building and managing a board
Finance
- Funding needs, options and strategies
- Negotiating investments, valuations and term sheet
- Equity split and co-founder relationships
- Entrepreneurial finance
- Understanding your economic engine
Operations
- Building a management system
- Designing an organizational structure
- Metrics and dashboards
- Non-hierarchical organization design
- Designing systems and processes
- Organizing customer service
- The operations function and role of the COO
Markets
- Strategic pricing
- Geographical expansion,
- Strategic marketing: UVP segmentation and positioning
- Understanding your customer
- Building a brand
- Building the marketing & sales function
+125 hours of carefully curated content, fully tailored to the needs of scaleups.
Highly interactive lectures, case discussions and workshops.
Peer Councils: Groups of six to eight founders to discuss your biggest challenges, guided by an experienced coach.
Variety of peer learning dynamics.
Ample time in class to apply frameworks and key lessons to your unique situation.
360º leadership assessment (the Leadership Circle Profile)
The Foundations of Scaling program will be led by world-class academics, thought leaders and highly successful entrepreneurs with broad experience and expertise in the realm of startups and scaleups. IESE Professors Thomas Klueter and Germán Loewe lead the initiative as Academic Directors.
Academic Director, School of Founders and Professor of Entrepreneurship
PhD in Management, University of Pennsylvania
Academic Director, School of Founders and Senior Lecturer of Decision Sciences
PhD in Mathematical Economics, University of Barcelona
Founder of Netquest and Shalion. Investor and advisor to startups.
Mathieu Carenzo, IESE Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship
Ignasi Costas, IESE Lecturer
Mireia Giné, IESE Professor of Finance
Yih-Teen Lee, IESE Professor of Organizational Behavior
Alejandro Lago, IESE Professor for Operations and Head of Department
Conor Neill, IESE Senior Lecturer of Organizational Behavior
External Faculty:
James Allen, Partner, Bain & Company
Jerry Colonna, Co-founder of Reboot.io
Verne Harnish, Founder of Scaling Up
Maciej Kraus, Lecturer, Stanford University
Dave Whorton, Founder of Tugboat Institute and the Evergreen movement
Joost Minnaar, Founder of Corporate Rebels
Lars Schmidt, Founder of Amplify and HR Open Source
Scaleup Founders:
Elena Betés, Founder at Rastreator and Preminen
Timo Buetefisch, Co-Founder and CEO at Cooltra
Arjen Schouten, Co-Founder and former COO of Rituals
Carlota Pi, Co-Founder and Executive President Holaluz
Pau Sabrià, Co-Founder at Remotely.works and Olapic
Oriol Vila, Board Member and former CEO at Holaluz, Co-founder at Conscious Capitalism Spain
Daniel Krauss, Co-Founder at Flixbus
Matt Blumberg, Co-Founder and CEO at Bolster and Co-Founder at Return Path
Avi Meir, Co-Founder and CEO at TravelPerk and at Travel Ninjas
Maria del Pino, Founder at Unisono
Didac Lee, Co-Founder at TradeInn and at Galdana Ventures
Roland Slot, Co-Founder at Breathe and Founding Partner at Aberkyn
Upon graduation, participants of the Foundations of Scaling Program are invited to continue their scaling journey with IESE in the Keep Scaling program. The yearlong program consists of a leadership retreat, six Peer Council meetings, and joint sprints with the next cohort of the Foundations of Scaling Program program. Specifically, you will share the classroom with participants of the previous program edition during three of the six residential sprints. The objective of the Keep Scaling Program is to offer continued education to alumni, but also to foster relationships with fellow entrepreneurs across the different generations of the program. In this sense, the Keep Scaling Program is a stepping-stone towards IESE’s long-term objective of shaping a powerful community of European scaleup entrepreneurs who help each other build large and purpose-driven businesses.
Program fees
General fee: €18,500
Co-founder fee: €14,500 per founder
Scholarships and discounts for individuals and special groups available.
The program fee includes approx. 125 hours of learning and sharing in class, six facilitated Peer Councils sessions, a 360º leadership assessment (Leadership Circle Profile), academic materials and all meals. Travel and accommodation expenses are not included.
Payment terms
Payment is required in three installments:
- 15% as a commitment fee upon acceptance
- 35% by September 6, 2023
- 50% by January 12, 2024
Admissions
An Admissions Committee thoroughly reviews every application. Places are limited. Due to class-size constraints and the need to ensure a balanced mix of participants, it is possible that even highly qualified applicants may not be admitted.
What participants say
"The unique thing about this program is that it goes deep into our minds and personalities. I clearly saw that if I don’t scale, my company doesn’t scale."
"Sharing with great minds with similar experiences adds so much value. It´s moving to see the visible results of our conversations."
"The program is far and away the best investment I have made in the last 10 years."
For more information
Foundations of Scaling
Patricia Gil de Sola
Program Manager, School of Founders
pgildesola@iese.edu
+34 93 253 42 00
Executive Education Rankings.
